Codeine Conversion Chemistry

[mrbigsexy]

I've seen alot of hypothetical chemistry out there about making oxycodone, or oxymorphone, or some other unexpected opiate from codeine or some whacked out thing like that through extensive reactions and stuff.

I'm not a chemistry major, however I do have a basic background in chemistry and can follow some simple procedures. My question is this: Assuming you could buy 15grams of codeine for $100 (in tablet form), would there be any practical conversion to do with it?

Basically what I'm probing here is to see if it's practical to buy this much codeine, and efficiently turn it into something better, while still maintaining some kind of efficiency. And by practical I mean meets or beats market price of the target chemical.

Assume the one-time fee of equipment to be negligible. The only cost is that of chemicals, filter paper, reagents, etc.

Any interesting responses are much appreciated, or any references to go look at would be good too, thanks!

[superman]

pretty much any short clandestine synthesis is worthwhile, and this one couldn't be easier to price out.

I assume you've read rhodium's archive?

[mrbigsexy]

Yes, Rhodiums archives are very useful and easy to understand and follow. As opposed to a bunch of chemical jargon, it reads like a recipe. Their recipe for morphine and heroin are fairly straightforward.

But other things like hydrocodone, etc, are a little more hard to follow. I just wondered if anybody had success with them.

[superman]

You're kind of asking on the wrong forum. most people here may have a grasp of chemistry, but i suspect only a couple have actually synthesized thier own drugs.

when looking to synth opiods though, the most important consideration is the availability of the precursors and reagents. codiene is readily available at $10/gram, but pyridine is not so easy to come by. most of the important reagents are tightly controlled and very hard to come by unless you know someone with access.

catalytic hydrogenations are difficult reactions and probably not the best place to start learning.

if you have any more specific Q's i'll try and answer them for you